Currently, there are various systems and methods for controlling the content to be displayed on web sites. The underlying code for generating the content or functionality on a web page may specify the object (e.g., text, images, multimedia, etc.) to be displayed on the web page. The code, such as HTML or the like, may also specify the location for obtaining the particular object to be displayed by, for example, a uniform resource locator (URL). In this instance, the code is interpreted by the browser (or other client program) in such a way that the browser obtains the object to be displayed from another computer system on the web. It is also common for web pages to invoke client-side code that generates the object(s) to be displayed. A client-side script is a program that may accompany, for example, an HTML document or be embedded directly in it. The program executes on the client's machine when the document loads, or at some other time, such as when a link is activated.
Typically, the content on a web site is distributed across numerous linked web pages because of the inherent visual limitations of the presentation medium, and other design/content considerations. Information on one web page may include links to additional web pages, content, functionality, etc. For example, there are a number of situations in which it is desirable to provide information regarding an item (or multiple items) on one web page, and more detailed information regarding the item(s) on subsequent web pages. The more detailed information on the subsequent page(s) may be accessed by engaging a link on the first web page. In some situations, the more detailed information on subsequent web page(s) is time-variant. For example, when the link on the current page is engaged, the time-variant data may be displayed in the linked page(s). However, additional information may or may not be included in the linked page(s). Thus, at certain times the link on the first web page may direct the user to more detailed information on the linked page, while at other times the link is “dead”—i.e., the subsequent page does not include any useful information.
By way of further illustration of this problem, many electronic commerce web sites (e.g., manufacturer web sites, shopping comparison sites, on-line retailers, value-add resellers, etc.) provide a series of web pages for searching for information regarding various products or services. The products or services may be searched and viewed based on hierarchical categories of goods/services. Such web sites often provide a product web page which displays product information for various products. If a user is interested in purchasing the particular product (or viewing market channel information associated with the product), the product web page enables the user to select a particular link to another web page which displays product availability, price, available retailers, and channel partners. It is often the case, however, that the market channel information changes over time depending on inventory, supply/demand, market considerations, channel partnering, business concerns, and the like. Thus, when the user selects the link on the product web page for a particular product, the linked web page does not provide market channel information. These dead links are a meaningful annoyance to would-be shoppers and, therefore, represent a substantial problem in the electronic commerce environment.